I pressed up onto my toes and stole a peck. “Come on. I’ll introduce you.”
Like a gentleman, Aaron stood up when we reached the table.
Unlike a gentleman, he stood there without so much as a hello.
“Bowen, this is Aaron Lanier, my best friend. Aaron, this is Bowen Michaels, my…” I twisted my lips, unsure how to finish that thought.
Bowen, on the other hand, was not. Hooking an arm around my hips, he pulled me against his side. “Her man.”
Her man? Um, yes please.
My body hummed, a fire igniting inside me. Fuck. Now was not the time to throw the man—my man—to the ground and mount him.
“Nice to meet you,” Aaron said, finally extending a hand to Bowen.
Bowen cupped it firmly. “You too. I’ve heard a lot of good things.”
Aaron’s gaze slid to mine. “As of about ten minutes ago, so have I.”
“In that case, my timing seems impeccable.”
“It appears so,” Aaron mumbled, dropping his hand and settling back into his seat.
Bowen grabbed a chair from the table beside ours and dragged it over, sliding it so close to mine they touched. Once seated, he slid his arm across the back of my chair. “So, what do you do for a living, Aaron?”
“Computer engineering at Rubicon.”
Bowen’s eyes perked. “The body armor company?”
Aaron fidgeted with his coffee cup. “Yep.”
“Very nice.”
“Yep,” Aaron repeated.
My shoulders sagged as a wet blanket of silence fell over the table. Okay, so this was not the bellows of laughter, instant connection, and planning future vacations together I’d hoped for when introducing two of my favorite guys. But it wasn’t bad, either. Aaron could be slow to warm up sometimes, and Bowen, well… I had no idea what he was like around new people. If the initial situation I’d had with him was anything to go by, Aaron would be the proud recipient of a cactus sometime next week.
“Hey.” I looked at Bowen. “Can I grab you a coffee?”
“Thanks, but I can get it, babe.”
“No, I don’t mind.” I stood up and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Both were wound like a rubber band ready to snap. “It will give you guys a few minutes to get to know each other better.” I cut Bowen a teasing side-eye. “Let me guess. Americano black?”
He pitched his lips to the side. “Close. Milk. Two Splendas.”
“Right. That was my second guess.”
Bowen smiled and Aaron just sat there, his face unreadable, like a true conversationalist.
Awesome.
Shaking my head, I walked to the counter, hoping like hell I didn’t come back to find them both scrolling on their phones.
“Hi. What can I get you?” the barista asked with a gorgeous white smile. I hoped to God Aaron had already secured a date because there was no way this woman didn’t have a stack of applications waiting in her inbox.
I placed my order and desperately fought the urge to put in a good word for my friend. After at least a dozen failed blind dates, he hated when I meddled in his love life, and I was already needling his patience with this ambush.
It didn’t take but a few minutes for her to pour the coffee, and after a pit stop at the cream and sugar bar, I was on my way back to the table.
Much to my absolute delight, the guys were hunched forward and talking when I approached, but my glee was short-lived.
Aaron’s hand was balled into a fist, resting on the wooden top between them. “…because I will fucking kill you. Do you understand me? And I’m not even the one you need to be worried about. If Mark—”
“Hey!” I scolded, setting Bowen’s cup on the table. “Seriously? I walk away for two minutes and you’re issuing death threats?”
Aaron clamped his mouth shut and had the good sense to look sheepish.
Bowen chuckled, momentarily stealing my outrage. “Remi, it’s okay. Cut the man some slack. He’s your best friend. It’s his duty to threaten my life if I were to hurt you. I’d be disappointed if he didn’t.”
“Well, that’s just…” I flicked my gaze between the two of them. A brawl didn’t seem likely, though I had wrestled Aaron to the floor over the remote a time or two, so I was fairly confident Bowen could hold his own. “Unnecessary.”
He reached out and caught my hand, pulling me back onto my chair. “And that is exactly what I was about to tell him.” Grinning, he returned his attention to Aaron. “You have nothing to worry about. I assure you I have Remi’s best interest at the forefront of my every thought. No consequence you could ever issue me would be worse than the hell I would suffer if she got hurt—in any way.”
“Awww.” I tilted my head back and peered up at him. Okay, so it was seriously sweet. Still wildly unnecessary. But sweet nonetheless.
